Here comes the bride: Malawi First Lady Gertrude

President Peter Mutharika and Gertrude Maseko are set to become husband and wife this Saturday and the bride has said she is “incredibly excited” about the wedding becoming Malawi’s First Lady.

The incoming First Lady together with her husband-to-be are very proud to wed and engage in a lawful relationship. She said: “We’re incredibly excited about this.”

Maseko, a former parliamentarian who lost a former husband last year, said she strongly feels the First Couple will have “a happy marriage.”

She comes from Kapasule Village in T/A Sawali in Balaka. Her brother, Brighton Kapasule, said the bride first broke the news of her relationship with Mutharika in 2012.

Maseko has a son doing tertiary education at the University of Malawi’s Polytechnic. She got divorced from her first husband more than 10 years ago.

Gertrude Mutharika: Malawi First Lady from Saturday

Here comes the bride: Gertrude Maseko

First Couple

Mutharika and Maseko will tie the knot at a private ceremony according to Peter Mukhito, co-chairman of the presidential wedding organizing committee.

The couple and some of their “well-wishers” are expected to fund the wedding, after Mutharika ordered government officials to ensure that no state funds are used to organize the nuptial ceremony, according to Peter Mukhito, co-chairman of the presidential wedding organizing committee.

Mukhito said foreign dignitaries, members of the diplomatic corps, friends of the couple and residents of the region Mutharika hails from have been invited to be guests at the wedding this weekend.

“The bill is being footed by the president himself and some well-wishers. In fact, His Excellency has directed that no government money should be used on this wedding…we have religiously followed the directive from the president that no government money should be used for the wedding,” Mukhito told Voice of America.

Mutharika, 74, is a widower with two daughters and a son. He was however accused of being gay during the run up to last month’s general election.

Mukhito during an interview with VOA rejected the accusation as baseless.

“I think those very much came from ill-minded competitors, and the truth is the president was married and that those children came from his previous marriage,” said Mukhito.

“What he is trying to do is actually to formalize and set a good example bringing in the first lady for the nation. So that is exactly what the president is trying to do.”

The marriage of Mutharika and Maseko will be the country’s third State wedding after that of Bakili Muluzi in 1999 to Shanil Dzimbili and late president Bingu wa Mutharika to Callista Mutharika.